Miyawaki Sakura. 20. Victim of Murphy's Law.

Lee Kaeun. 25. Grey-Eyed Reaper.

"I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet."

_________________________________________________________________________________

It’s bright.

Sakura was barely able to crack an eye open, only to groan miserably at the sudden occular assault coming from the streaks of light that managed to creep it’s way into her room from in between the cracks of her blinds. Sakura combats it by smothering her face with a pillow in a vain attempt to block out the sun but alas, Mother Nature would win this fight today, as is the case with every other day.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Sakura stares up at the cracked plaster of her bedroom’s ceiling. Unwilling to move, and very unwilling to get a start on her day.

She was alive.

That statement would be excessively dramatic if it were to come any other day, but not this time. Not at this very morning. Not after having two women armed with guns visit her place of employment last night, one even going so far as to point said firearm right at her while the other woman bleeds all over the floor.

It took Sakura an hour to scrub the dried blood out of the parquet flooring. Another half an hour to lock up and clean the kitchen up from having made that extra pot of coffee (that was stolen from her, by the way. Kaeun took her whole pot with her!) resulting in Sakura finally being able to climb in bed several hours later than normal.

There was a lot to complain about. At least she didn’t have class today. At least she was alive. 

Absentmindedly checking the time on her phone, Sakura nearly drops it in shock as her sleep-addled brain processes the numbers on her phone’s screen and the many messages coming from her friends and employer.

Holy . She’s late.

******************************************

“—and as far as I know she didn’t take anything else.”

“You appear to be awfully compliant in this footage. How do you know her?”

“I don’t know her! She had a gun! Of course I’d follow anything she said!” Sakura huffed in her seat, uncomfortable with all the eyes measuring and observing from all around her. 

Of course it would be an incident. All the explosions from last night would definitely attract attention, so by all means she shouldn’t be surprised when she arrived to work this morning on her raggedy old bicycle to find an entire battalion of police officers and reporters swarming the entrance to her bakery.

She shouldn’t be surprised—and she wasn’t—but she was incredibly annoyed. There were 3 burly looking police officers standing over her as she shrank in her seat, showing her footage from last night taken from the shop’s closed-circuit cameras. Another 2 forensic officers were crawling about the store, dusting for prints and God knows what else making their displeasure of Sakura’s meticulous cleaning skills loudly known.

In her defence, she had no idea the police would be coming today, and as the sole employee of this bakery it would have been highly unprofessional (not to mention hardly hygienic) to leave blood all over the premises overnight. Sakura cleaned every remnant of Kaeun as if she was hired to do so, which was probably highly suspicious to the authorities.

“I’ll ask you again, do you know nothing about her? Where she went after she left this place, anything at all that could help us find her?!”

“Settle down, Inspector Lee. She doesn’t know anything, and you know it.”

“Dammit!” The Inspector slammed the table in frustration, startling Sakura and making her jump in her seat. Was it even standard procedure to be conducting the interrogation in the bakery? Shouldn’t they be doing this at the police station or something? That’s what Sakura usually sees happening on those TV shows she catches herself watching at 11pm when nothing else was on.

Inspector Lee seemed extremely adamant about catching the two visitors that came in last night. Sakura can’t say she didn’t understand. One did point a gun at her after all, but he looked to be a little too overzealous and overbearing in his interrogation methods. He must be the ‘bad cop’ in this dynamic, with the ‘good cop’ being the woman next to him who had reprimanded him earlier.

“...May I ask...just who is she? The two of them...Who are they?”

Both police officers turned to look at Sakura. It was an innocent question, and the nicer woman smiled in understanding while Inspector Lee simply nodded before going away to fuss over the forensics team. If anything the genuine cluelessness in Sakura’s question helped them to believe that the baker really knew nothing about the two mysterious visitors in the night.

“The one you served coffee to is Lee Kaeun, otherwise known as the Reaper. That name should be self explanatory enough. She’s got so much blood on her hands I’m surprised they’re not permanently dyed red.”

“The....Reaper...?” Sakura repeated the lofty nickname, testing it on her tongue. 

The blood-soaked woman from last night didn’t seem like a reaper. There were instances when Sakura did feel genuine fear for her life, and the woman did look a little too comfortable with a gun but...she was so young. How can someone that young earn the title of a mass murderer? Given to her by the police no less, signifying just how large a threat she was. Sakura was pretty sure the Korean police force was not in the practice of giving every run-of-the-mill criminal an ego- nickname like The Reaper.

“To be honest...” The woman—Officer Miyazaki Miho, Sakura reads on the metal tag pinned to her chest—starts, sounding perplexed and pensive. “...I don’t think there’s ever been an instance where I’ve seen The Reaper get injured. I wonder who managed to mess her leg up that badly?”

So was this Kaeun invincible or something? If she wasn’t she was certainly revered, if not outright feared by the men and women in uniform around her. She certainly didn’t seem anywhere nearly as cool when she was bleeding all over Sakura’s floor.

“How about the other one? The one that came later?”

“That would be Heo Yunjin. All the reports state that she’s a successor of sorts to The Reaper. She’s just a teenager though...I shudder to think what will become of our country in a few years.”

Sakura agrees. She didn’t know much about all this but the girl that pointed a gun to her last night was incredibly young. Probably younger than Sakura herself. Sakura has undergone her own fair share of childhood trauma growing up, she wonders what these two went through? Lee Kaeun and Heo Yunjin....

“Officer Miyazaki. Please stop divulging sensitive information to regular citizens.”

“Sensitive? The Reaper and her Junior practically have their own Wikipedia pages! I’m not revealing anything that isn’t already on there!” Officer Miyazaki whined loudly, causing the other police officers to shake their heads.

“You’re Japanese?” Sakura inquired out of curiosity. Being Japanese herself Sakura knew how difficult it could be to get a job in this country, but this woman managed it. As a police officer no less.

Officer Miyazaki laughed at the sudden change in subject. “Hardly. I was born Japanese, but really I’m about as Korean as kimchi nowadays. Family migrated here when I was young, now I have a citizenship and everything.”

Sakura nods in understanding. That made sense at least. She herself hasn’t really gotten around to doing that whole citizenship thing, although she’s essentially lived here for the past 15 years. In all honesty that’s probably breaking a law somewhere but she couldn’t continue that train of thought because Officer I-Love-Korea here was suddenly all in her face.

“In case you haven’t realised yet, you are incredibly lucky to be alive right now Sakura-ssi. Lee Kaeun is a heartless and ruthless killer. She charges headfirst into a fortress of armed men and leaves nothing but a trail of bodies in her wake.”

Sakura blinked back in response, not knowing what to say to that. Was Officer Miyazaki part of Lee Kaeun’s fanclub or something? “That’s...madness.”

“Isn’t it?” The woman replies with a bright smile. In all honesty she was starting to creep Sakura out more than Kaeun did last night.

“Miyawaki, might I have a word with you?”

Sakura recognises the voice to belong to her employer, Miss Baek. A stoutly woman with a hairdo that looked like she had asked her hairdresser for a perm but changed her mind midway.

This...didn’t seem like it was going to be anything good.

**********************************************

Sakura finds herself in a daze as she drags her feet back home. Really all she wanted to do was flop down on her bed and sleep the rest of the week away, because God knows it’s not coming off to a great start. A series of very unfortunate events seem to have started, and Sakura wasn’t sure if this is all there was to it. Murphy’s Law states that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong and this doesn’t feel like everything yet.

Fired.

She just got fired.

How on earth did she get fired? She worked so hard! She spent almost every available hour in that bakery and she wasn’t even the biggest fan of bread! She needed this job to pay off her student loans and groceries. 

Sakura’s boss had told her that her name was now associated with criminal activity, and her being in that bakery will in affect bring down the bakery’s reputation. As if the bakery had much of a reputation to begin with. Sakura could even argue that she had given the shop some manner of publicity, but something tells her that her boss would still fire her anyways.

She’s now unemployed and broke.

She hopes that this would be the last of her misfortunes.

Finally trudging her way back home, Sakura collapses onto her plush single-bed and buries her face into the silky sheets. She needed a way to unwind from all this. Maybe she should get a cat....She couldn’t afford a cat. Maybe she should get a Tamagotchi. Do people even play with Tamagotchi’s anymore? Maybe she should look online for some virtual pet she could nurture that was totally free or something.

Speaking of looking things up online, Sakura remembers Officer Miyazaki mention that Kaeun and Yunjin had their own Wikipedia pages or something of the like. That would be fun, maybe. Maybe reading up on her two mysterious late night guests would help take her mind off how depressing her life was currently. Taking her phone out, Sakura types in Lee Kaeun’s name and waits for the search results to load.

The very first article that pops up was a sure indicator that this wasn’t going to be the stress-free journey of discovery that Sakura had initially hoped. The article featured a grainy picture of Kaeun taken from a distance, clad in the same black suit with a red satin shirt underneath that she wore when Sakura first met her. In the photo Kaeun was holding a gun in each hand, and her surroundings were on fire making it look as if she was part of a Hollywood action film.

“The Reaper Strikes Again! Bloodbath and Beyond As 22 People Lay Dead In Latest Reaper Appearance!”

Sakura does a double-take at the header. It sounds like the plot of a bad movie, but it was apparently more fact than fiction. 22 people...how does one person kill 22 people...? And still look THAT good?!

Upon further reading she finds that the 22 people that were murdered were all affiliated with various gangs and crime syndicates. The next few articles were all of the same vein, dramatic over-the-top headlines accompanied by a blurry picture of what one might assume to be a woman in a suit. Sakura finds one or two articles relating to Yunjin and several more on a woman named Hyewon, but The Reaper seemed to be every author’s favourite choice of subject.

The more Sakura reads about Kaeun, the more she starts to question things. The woman that came to her bakery last night, cracking dumb jokes while begging for coffee didn’t seem to fit the mental image Sakura had of a typical mass murderer.

But Sakura suddenly remembers the brief glimpses of fire she managed to catch in Kaeun’s grey eyes. The steely, piercing gaze that reminded Sakura of her own mortality. Maybe if she saw more of that Kaeun, and not the jovial caffeine-addict, maybe then the Reaper persona would be more believable.

According to what Sakura could gather online, Kaeun was one of the “Enforcers” for a crime family known as the Red Roses, easily distinguishable by the black suits and red shirts they wear when out on duty. Falling down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia articles and click-through links, Sakura learns just how fearsome the Red Roses are, and in effect discovers exactly why the police officers seem to be on edge in regards to Kaeun.

Tossing her phone to the other side of the bed, Sakura stares blankly at her ceiling. She remembers Kaeun’s smile. Kaeun’s laugh. Sakura wonders how a woman that young could even bring herself to take a life, let alone several hundreds. Sakura has never consciously met a killer before, but she has to say that Kaeun was probably one of the warmest killers she’ll ever meet.

***************************************

The days of unemployment continue to stretch, and before she knows it Sakura’s already several weeks deep with no job prospect in sight. In appears that nobody else in Gwangju wants to employ a struggling Japanese college student who has gone on record as being friendly to mass murderers. 

She tries not to be resentful. Sakura tries to not have any negative emotions about anything in her life but as her 5th job application gets turned down, she starts to feel the tiniest bit of anger towards Kaeun and the rest of the Red Roses for coming into her (previous) place of employment and getting her fired from the best paying job she’ll probably ever get until she graduates college. That is, if she can even graduate, now that she’s starting to struggle with paying her fees. 

Yuri and Yena try to make it easy for her though. They pay for her meals despite her protests, and one time Yuri even showed up in front of her doorstep with groceries, saying that “she just happened to be in the neighbourhood and that she just happened to accidentally buy double of everything at the grocery store so Sakura could have some if she’d like”. 

Sakura loves her friends. She really does, but she didn’t really like to be treated like a charity case. She has pride, but she also has enough common sense to know that she currently needed the help so Sakura makes a list. She writes down every single cent the girls have spent on her, and she promises to pay the both of them back. Eventually.

**********************************

Of all the places Sakura could have gone on this rainy, sticky, overall borderline depressing day, she had decided to go to Chungjang-ro. The shopping district was bustling with people all as equally wet from the rain as she was, thus making them just as sticky, depressed and disgusting. It was a poor decision to come here, but Sakura knew a woman that would give her bulk discounts on hair-ties and her hair has been growing out of control lately.

She felt like a lion, with her hair all over the place and her face. Like Simba. She could probably do a brilliant Lion King adaptation honestly. Maybe she could even get paid for it. God knows she could use the money. She’s been unemployed for over a month now, and financially it started being a problem within the first week of said month. If it wasn’t for her friends and kind neighbours who would check in on her from time to time she probably would have starved by now.

The amount of general pedestrians walking down the street seemed to triple as she got deeper and deeper into Chungjang-ro, making Sakura choose alternate methods to get back to the train station. She was unfamiliar with these streets, but she had enough faith in her sense of direction to start jumping into random alleyways and pray that it leads her to where she needed to go. What’s the worst that could happen? She didn’t even need to worry about getting mugged, with what little money she had.

Or maybe she should be worried. What if a particularly unpleasant fellow tried to mug her, only to grow even more agitated upon discovering that she wasn’t worth the effort? How would Sakura appease him then? By using her feminine wiles?!

Sakura began to panic. The alleys were startlingly quiet, a far cry from the busy streets she had just left. She didn’t think she was attractive enough to appease a mugger by...other means. She was shorter than the average, she barely had any meat on her bones...maybe this alley wasn’t the best of ideas. 

Maybe she should backtrack now.

Suddenly the wet and sticky crowd didn’t seem that uninviting.

She was broke AND unattractive. What a sudden, depressing realisation.

“COME BACK HERE, WENCH!”

“I’M SORRY I’M UGLY!” Sakura shouted out in reflex before she even knew what was going on. Her heart was beating a thousand miles a minute and she just wanted to hide her unattractive, penniless face away from the public.

“.....”

“.....”

Sakura looked around in confusion upon realising that there wasn’t any follow up to the random shouting that came out of nowhere, only to grow even more confused when she didn’t see a soul in sight. Perplexed, Sakura let out a shaky breath when she contemplated the possibility of something paranormal calling her a wench. Really. The language on ghosts these days. She was—

“THERE’S NOWHERE FOR YOU TO GO NOW!”

Sakura jumped when the booming voice reverberated through the alley again. It sounds like it was coming from down the middle of the path, but still there was nobody there. Curiosity getting the best of her, Sakura began walking towards the sound, which in all hindsight was probably not the best idea.

Sakura was nothing if not known for her bad decisions however. It was her middle name. Miyawaki “I-Done-Goofed-Up-Again” Sakura was what they used to call her.

Upon closer inspection, Sakura noticed that the path she was on broke off into a tinier alley to the left, the entrance of which was partially concealed by a giant green industrial dumpster. The shouting and general ruckus that was getting louder by the second must be coming from there. Sakura approached with tentative steps, reminded of the last time she had decided to investigate random suspicious sounds a month ago. It ended up with her getting interrogated and then fired.

“—I said, GIVE US THE HARD DRIVE!”

“I don’t have it!”

“Then tell us who does!”

“Please...Let’s just talk about this...”

Slowly approaching the entrance of the alley, Sakura peeks around the corner as stealthily as she could. There were 3 men...One was pinning a girl to the wall by jamming his forearm into , as the other two laughed and looked on. The girl was crying, and a quick scan showed that all three men were armed. 

Was this a mugging? If it was, it was an awfully unfair one. Not that Sakura has ever heard of a fair mugging, but this was probably crossing some lines somewhere.

Sakura should save her.

Wait what? No! Why was she trying to be a hero again?! For someone who is so content with not being a protagonist, Sakura realises that she jumps to the rescue of things and people that she doesn’t know far too easily. A dull thud, followed by an even louder one and a groan caused Sakura to focus her attention back on the scene happening before her. The girl was on her knees, clutching her stomach as the man that had been pinning her flexed a fist.

A sudden breeze blew by, moving the girl’s shoulder-length brown hair out of her face and Sakura’s heart stopped because it was one that was a bit too familiar to her. Sakura’s spent hours just looking up articles of this girl online, so she was sure she wasn’t mistaken although this wasn’t the way she pictured them meeting up again.

Heo Yunjin of the Red Roses. 

The Reaper’s understudy.

To be honest, knowing that a mass murderer like Yunjin was being ganged up on actually raised more sympathy in Sakura than what was probably acceptable. Yunjin...has undoubtedly done some bad things. Amazing, miraculously evil things, but these three men don’t seem to be all too pleasant themselves.

Deciding between leaving the scene while pretending she didn’t see anything and trying to save Yunjin from these ruffians, the choice was easier to make than she thought. The problem was, how was she going to get involved in this situation as quickly and carefully as possible without getting herself killed?

A fierce kick to the gut sends Yunjin back against the wall, coughing and wheezing as she clutches her stomach. There were probably some internal injuries there. Sakura knew she needed to act fast, before the men decide to resort to more lethal methods. Sakura didn’t even know what these people wanted with Yunjin but she didn’t care right now. It was three men against one defenceless woman! That alone was enough to get Sakura to act.

The men were so engrossed with beating Yunjin up, they didn’t even notice Sakura standing at the mouth of the alley some 30 feet away from them. It gave her time to think of a plan. Of course this large green dumpster partially covering the entrance did it’s part in hiding her as well.

Wait a minute.

That could work.

Not giving herself another minute to reconsider the repercussions of the mad idea that has managed to find it’s way into her head, Sakura ducked down behind the dumpster and unlatched the brakes by the large green contraption’s wheels. It only took a minor shove, but the combined efforts of the heavy dumpster, paired with the gravel still wet from the rain and the ground’s slight decline in elevation sends the dumpster sailing down the alley at almost frightening speeds. 

Sakura ducked back around the corner, not sticking around to see if the dumpster managed to hit the mark. She was pretty sure based on the dull thuds and shouts coming from down the alley that she managed to hit at least ONE of them, and she just prayed that it wasn’t Yunjin. Her job here is done. Hopefully she created a big enough window of opportunity for Yunjin to escape.

Turning to leave, Sakura gets the shock of her life when she finds that she wasn’t there alone. Three figures in black hoodies stood around her, surrounding Sakura and providing no room for her to run away. Not that Sakura intended to. These three figures...even with their hoods up obscuring their faces emitted such a menacing presence that the Japanese girl couldn’t even fathom a way out of this.

These people were dangerous. Every alarm bell within Sakura was being set off. Her body was screaming at her to run but her fear was rooting her to the spot. That figure in the middle especially...something about the one in the middle sent chills straight down Sakura’s spine. 

How long have they been standing here? Were they with the three guys in the alley? Were they going to do to her the same thing they did to Yunjin? She knew she shouldn’t have butted into things that did not concern her. She was a fool. An over ambitious idiot who’s watched one too many Tom Cruise movies. As those thoughts fill her brain, the figure in the middle begins to move closer, a slight limp in it’s gait. 

A hand is brought up to press against the wall past Sakura’s right ear, pinning the Japanese girl against the brick and mortar and filling her senses with the scent of roses. This was it. She was going to die, and her last thoughts would be one of regret. She wishes she could have at least graduated university before she passed. To enter the afterlife with a bachelor’s degree as a qualification would be nice. 

The hooded figure brings a (surprisingly) lithe hand up to pull her hood back, revealing a mess of silky black hair, cut to shoulder-length and visible through the messy bangs were a pair of piercing grey eyes. A pair of very familiar piercing grey eyes.

“K-Kaeun-ssi?!” Sakura sputters in disbelief, face burning up upon realising just how bloody close the taller girl was to her.

“What are you up to, Sakura?” Kaeun whispered low, breathy and soft. The question was like velvet to the ears, and accompanied by the intoxicating scent of roses that was just so inherently Kaeun, Sakura was feeling lightheaded just standing there.

“I...I....” Really, Sakura started to answer but she herself had absolutely no idea where she was going with that. Even she had no idea what she was up to in trying to save a gang member whom she barely knew.

“You know her, unnie?” One of the other hooded figures asked, surprising Sakura with the femininity in the voice. Were they all girls? 

“....We’re acquainted.” Kaeun’s reply was simple, being able to accurately sum up her connection to Sakura with a single word.

Sakura herself did not know why she felt a slight tinge of disappointment at the answer. Was she hoping for a little more enthusiasm from Kaeun? Knowing what the taller girl has been through, Sakura realises she wasn’t enough to bring about any feeling of excitement or enthusiasm from the stoic Kaeun. The taller woman has just seen a lot in her apparently young life.

Kaeun backs away, bringing with her the smell of roses and the breath from Sakura’s lungs. Good God she probably shouldn’t be gawking at the girl but Lee Kaeun is absolutely beautiful. Sakura would love to make the girl’s face the wallpaper to her phone and her everyday life.

“Come. This is hardly the place to talk.” Kaeun commands, and before Sakura could even react the other two hooded figures had grabbed the smaller Japanese girl by her elbows and proceeded to drag her away out of the alley.

“W-wait! What—where—?!”

“Quiet.” The taller of the hooded girls demanded, causing Sakura to shut and allow herself to be taken away in what was probably the easiest kidnapping in history.

They reach the mouth of the alley after several minutes of Sakura being dragged against her will to be greeted by a black stretch limousine waiting on them by the side of the main road. The two figures tossed Sakura into the vehicle rather unceremoniously and they file in one by one, with Kaeun bringing up the rear.

Sakura was pushed to the far end of the limo so that she was seated against the wall dividing the passengers from the driver, facing the back of the limo where Kaeun sat looking poised and imposing akin to royalty.

“Would you like a drink?” Kaeun offers, pointing to a small assortment of beverages in a plastic bag on the floor between them.

The limo begins to pull away, noticeably without Yunjin which was beyond strange. This whole thing was beyond strange. Sakura had nothing but questions for the lot of them. Why were known criminals travelling around in a limo of all things? Shouldn’t they be trying to keep a low profile?

“No...I’d like an explanation.” Sakura replies, trying her best to keep her voice steady. The other two occupants of the limo had already lowered their hoods as well, revealing a youthful girl who appeared to be far taller than her age would suggest, and a grumpy looking beauty with auburn hair.

From what Sakura has seen, the Red Roses mainly consisted of women. Which was weird, for reasons that Sakura herself wasn’t sure of. It just felt weird to see so many violent women, when her life thus far has been pretty law-abiding.

“Do you know who those men were, Sakura?”

Sakura’s attention snaps back to the present and the matter at hand. Kaeun was leaning forwards, elbows on her thighs as she studied Sakura’s face. Probably wondering how it was possible for the Japanese girl to space out and daydream when she’s in a car surrounded by guns and women who knew how to use them very well.

“N-No...I...I don’t...” Sakura failed to maintain her composure that time, finding Kaeun’s intense gaze highly unsettling.

“May I ask why would you go out of your way to help Yunjin, when the very first time you met the girl she aimed a gun at you?” Kaeun followed up, making Sakura feel as if she was being interrogated again.

“She...she didn’t seem like a bad person. She helped you out when you were bleeding and s-stuff...”

There was an awkward pause, one that made Sakura nervous if she had misspoke but the raucous laughter that followed made her think otherwise. Kaeun was laughing, head tossed back while a shiny silver pistol rattled around on her hip. The other two girls didn’t seem to find the humour in the situation, which Sakura felt was pretty reassuring because it was obvious she wasn’t the only one who had missed a joke somewhere.

“Oh Sakura...” Kaeun began, as the laughter had mellowed down into light chuckles. “She’s my sister. Of course she would ‘help me out’. Yunjin would crawl -first through a pit of venomous snakes for me if she needed to.”

Sakura could only blink dumbly at the revelation. “Sister...?”

Kaeun nodded, resting her chin on her propped up palm as she regarded Sakura with what could be mistaken as affection in her eyes. It was amazing how Sakura could go from being absolutely terrified of this woman, to being as giddy as a schoolgirl.

“But let me make one thing very clear to you, Miyawaki Sakura...”

Kaeun leaned forward even more, as if what she was about to say was a secret that nobody else should know. The usage of her full name leaving Kaeun’s lips sounded like the most beautiful thing, and it didn’t even occur to Sakura how odd it was that Kaeun could remember her full name after a month of not seeing her after the latter first heard it.

“We are not good people.”

The warm gaze Kaeun’s eyes previously held bled back into the steely grey that sent shivers down Sakura’s spine. The other two occupants sniggered at Kaeun’s words, finding amusement that Kaeun herself didn’t outwardly show. The woman known as The Reaper instead looked...sad. As if she wasn’t as proud of the fact as the other two girls.

“...I understand that.” Sakura started. “But you can’t expect me to just walk away. Yunjin-ssi was being outnumbered! Even if you were the bad guys that isn’t fair! It was 3 on 1!”

“They would have needed to at least double those numbers to even come close to being a problem for her.” The youthful girl closest to Kaeun remarked, subtle amusement colouring her features.

The auburn haired beauty sitting right next to Sakura on the other hand didn’t even bother hiding how hilarious she found the Japanese girl’s concern for Yunjin to be. “She’s the Reaper’s protégé you ! If she couldn’t even handle 3 scrubs, there wouldn’t be a point to this!”

“So wait...was that some kind of training..?”

“Yeah. And you disrupted it, dip.” 

“Minju. I will not tolerate any disrespect towards our guest.” Kaeun’s voice was low and cold, beyond a warning or a threat and much more akin to an act of violence waiting to happen. The temperature in the limo plummeted significantly and Sakura’s hands began trembling in what she belatedly identifies as fear.

There were many sides to Lee Kaeun. The woman wore many masks, and Sakura not having known the woman for long is finding it difficult to determine which face she wore was the real one. There was the chirpy one she had seen in the bakery a month ago, the mischievous one from earlier, and the cold, commanding one that has just been used on Minju.

“S-sorry unnie.” Minju apologises, visibly shaken by Kaeun and all traces of playfulness from earlier has disappeared from the auburn-haired girl’s face. 

There was genuine fear there. Minju, and even the taller girl next to her feared Kaeun. Sakura takes comfort in knowing that she wasn’t the only one who was quaking in her boots as a result of Kaeun’s cold grey eyes.

“Yunjin was gathering information.” Kaeun informs all of a sudden, surprising everyone in the vehicle.

“Unnie—!”

“This is my discretion, Wonyoung.”

The tall, youthful girl (now identified as Wonyoung) didn’t look particularly convinced by Kaeun’s reassurance but if she was dissatisfied she kept it to herself. Kaeun continued on with her explanation for Sakura, who could only listen attentively and nod in between breaks.

“Yunjin was exploiting the typical villain trope, where they reveal all their plans when they feel as if they have the upper hand. A few tears here, a bit of begging for mercy, make them feel as if they have the advantage. Yunjin was tasked with getting those men to leak crucial information before she kills them.”

“...and I ruined that.”

“Brilliantly, I might add. A runaway dumpster. Really. You’re something else, Baker-san.” Kaeun smiles at Sakura, and there was a weird fondness in the way Kaeun was looking at her that had no reason being there.

“Am I in trouble?” Sakura asks, only for Minju to interject sharply, almost lunging towards the Japanese girl in frustration.

“You bet your damn you’re in trouble! Do you know how LONG we’ve been planning this set—“

“Minju.” Kaeun calls out and as if time itself had stopped, Minju immediately froze in place upon hearing Kaeun call her name in that tone of voice again. “You will not touch her. I will not allow it.”

Minju deflates visibly in fear, shrinking into her seat. “...Yes unnie.”

“Why are you telling me all this? Shouldn’t this be like, super classified information or something?” Sakura asks. She didn’t understand why Kaeun was being so open and inviting with her. 

“Because you need to learn that you have gotten yourself involved in something far bigger than you think.” Kaeun replies, hands folded neatly in her lap as she takes a moment to study Sakura’s expressions before continuing. Kaeun does a lot of that. Observing, that is. Those grey eyes seem to always be studying and looking for something.

Sakura wonders what Kaeun sees when the latter looks at her. Does she see the same unremarkable person that Sakura sees when she looks in the mirror?

“Those were very dangerous men, Sakura. And they belong to a very dangerous crime family. The Black Dahlia are relentless and violent to a fault, and you’ve interrupted them just as they’ve finally managed to corner one of us. They won’t be happy.”

Oh. 

Oh.

So it appears Sakura’s insane curiosity and penchant for getting herself in trouble has landed her smack dab in the middle of a war between crime organisations. She just couldn’t catch a break.

“What do I do...?”

“Dying is a solution.” Minju mumbled, receiving a glare from Kaeun and a light smack on the wrist from Wonyoung.

“Unnie, why should we care?! Why do we need to care about her when she did this to herself? She even ruined our mission while she was at it!” Minju started, arguing an admittedly very sound case. Even Sakura couldn’t fault the girl on that one.

This was all her own doing after all. They never asked Sakura to help Yunjin. In fact if what they were saying is true, Yunjin was never in need of help on the first place. Sakura was just being a fool, as usual and now she has a crime family (with a wicked cool name) painting a target on her. Sakura sighed, although to her surprise Kaeun sighed with her.

“You’re right. We don’t need to care about her.” 

Sakura’s head whipped towards Kaeun, feeling undeservedly betrayed. Kaeun’s eyes met hers, and for a brief eternity Sakura realised just why those grey eyes looked so familiar. It reminded her of wolves. The creature she sees all the time in video games and nature documentaries. Piercing and sharp, ferocious and calm. Just like a wolf.

“We don’t need to, but I still do. Will that be a problem, Kim Minju?” Kaeun finished, not even bothering to look at Minju as she addressed the younger girl. There was no room for negotiations or rebuttals in Kaeun’s rhetorical question, and Minju knew it.

“...No, unnie.

The remainder of the car ride was awkwardly silent. Sakura didn’t even know where they were taking her, but the tension in the car was so great she dared not to ask out loud where their destination was. Wonyoung shifted awkwardly in her seat, while Minju kept on glaring daggers at Sakura. 

Kaeun on the other hand, was not as hostile. Her eyes were trained on Sakura, though her thoughts might be elsewhere. The longest 15 minutes pass by, with Sakura fidgeting in place not wanting to say anything but her eyes keep darting back to the guns on all three girls’ hips and she really just wanted to go home.

The limo came to a sudden stop, and everyone’s eyes dart towards the door as it opens. In a feat of inhuman reflexes Kaeun already has her gun drawn and trained towards the door, only lowering it when she recognises the person entering the vehicle.

“They’re taken care of.” Yunjin says as she squeezes into the limo, placing herself in between Kaeun and Wonyoung. The oldest of the lot passes Yunjin a handkerchief, and Sakura notices the flecks of red colouring Yunjin’s cheeks and clothes.

They weren’t wearing their trademark suits, Sakura realises. Maybe it was because of Yunjin’s mission, which required her to be in disguise somewhat. To appear weak, in order to lower their target’s guard.

“What about the information we need?” 

“Wouldn’t cough it up. What the heck was that dumpster anyways?! Awful timing. Woah we have a guest—WOAH it’s the COFFEE GIRL!” Yunjin shouts, eyes wide as she finally notices Sakura squeezed into the far corner.

“Hello.” Sakura offered weakly, while Yunjin continued excitedly geeking out over the Japanese girl’s presence in the vehicle.

It was suddenly a far cry from the tense silence that enveloped them earlier. Yunjin was bright, bringing with her an energy that was nearly overbearing and obnoxious given the mood of the car.

“Maaan unnie wouldn’t shut up about you! How’d she managed to rope you into this?” 

Sakura hesitated, trying her hardest to not get hung up on the first part of Yunjin’s question. Kaeun wouldn’t shut up about her...? “Umm...I-I roped myself into this.”

“That dumpster was you?!!” Yunjin excitedly clapped her hands at the new revelation. “Smooth moves coffee lady! Though, would’ve been nice if you had waited maybe another 5 more minutes to initiate your rescue plan.”

“I thought you were in trouble...”

“Isn’t she cute?! Unnie look at her~ She’s worried about me! Can we keep her? I promise I’ll t—ACK!!”

Yunjin is cut off mid-sentence by Kaeun bonking her on the head with the of her gun. Unlike with Wonyoung and Minju there was a soft affection in the way Kaeun looks at Yunjin, giving weight to the former’s earlier claim of the two being sisters.

“Since Yunjin has disposed of those men, you should be safe Sakura. I don’t think they had the time to report you to their headquarters. They probably won’t be coming after you.” Kaeun says as she turns to Sakura, gently reassuring the latter of her safety. 

“T-Thank you! Thank you so much!” Sakura bows deep, nearly folding her body in half in her seat. 

It’s weird. The way Kaeun switches from cold to warm. From unapproachable to absolutely pleasant. Sakura wonders if she’ll ever get used to it. She wonders if there will even be another time for her to get used to it. Today was a chance encounter, fueled by her own stupidity and curiosity. She supposes she should be grateful that they don’t seem too upset with her ruining their mission today, because it sure as hell sounded like an important one. 

Essentially, these people who are supposed to be evil and remorseless by public standards, had just saved her life.

“You look like poop, unnie. Are you okay?” Wonyoung asks, lightly tracing the bruises and cuts covering Yunjin’s arms and face from the earlier beatdown.

Yunjin winced as Wonyoung’s delicate finger circles a particularly tender spot. “Kkang-unnie has done way worse to me.”

“Kaeunnie punches like an ape.” Minju mumbles, and the three of them burst into girlish giggles as Kaeun shook her head from the side.

It was hard to believe that these people were murderers. They were far too young, and far too jovial. Wonyoung, Minju and Yunjin had to be younger than Sakura herself, whereas Kaeun doesn’t look to be a year older than 25. The scene she was currently witnessing looked to be straight out of a normal picturing of a family, save for the fact that they were still in a limo and Kaeun was still holding the gun she had used to hit Yunjin with earlier. 

“Please allow us to drop you home, Sakura. There may be nobody after you as of right now, but I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving you at the side of the road.” Kaeun suggested, and for a brief moment Sakura hesitated to comply because she didn’t want them to know where she stayed. She relented though, seeing that Kaeun refused to take no as an answer and her own fatigue hitting her like a tonne of bricks from out of nowhere.

The window separating the passengers from the driver’s seat lowered, and Sakura informed the man behind the wheel of her address. The journey didn’t take long, but Yunjin managed to take advantage of the few brief moments to interrogate Sakura about her current relationship status and if she was seeing anyone at the moment.

Sakura finds that she kinda likes Yunjin. Although the girl can be a little loud.

They eventually arrive outside of Sakura’s apartment complex, with Sakura bowing politely to the girls as she passed by them on the way out of the limo. She secretly wonders if this was okay, just leaving like this. Aren’t crime families stricter than this? They essentially saved her life and gave her a free ride home. This wasn’t all that bad.

Kaeun steps out of the car after her, and an awkward moment passes as Sakura wonders what was supposed to happen as they stood facing each other. She waited for Kaeun to say or do something but the taller girl just looked down at her, studying Sakura’s every movement.

Was she waiting for a goodbye kiss or something? Sakura would honestly gladly oblige. Lee Kaeun was most likely one of the prettiest human beings she has ever had to fortune of coming across. Did Kaeun want a hug? A handshake perhaps?

“Please take care of yourself, Sakura. I’m...I’m sorry you lost your job because of me.”

Kaeun’s voice was barely above a whisper. There was genuine sorrow and guilt in those grey eyes, that it took Sakura by surprise. Lee Kaeun wore many masks, but this didn’t feel like one of them. This might actually be the closest Sakura has and will get to seeing Kaeun’s true face.

“How did you...” Sakura began, wanting to find out how Kaeun knew she had been fired but the latter simply shook her head and waved her off. 

Kaeun turned back towards the limo, sparing Sakura one last glance over her shoulder before she entered the vehicle and closed the door. Sakura sighed as she watched the luxurious car drive off into the sunset, wondering if she’ll ever cross paths with Kaeun ever again.

Turning to walk into the apartment compound, Sakura realises the plastic bag that she had been holding since the start of the entire ordeal seemed a little bit heavier than it was supposed to be. There were only hair ties and a few scrunchies in it, so it really shouldn’t have much weight to it.

Unless....

Sakura peers into the bag, and her heart stops when she notices a white envelope inside it. With a shaky hand, Sakura pulls it out and nearly drops it in shock when she sees the contents.

Money. 

Lots and lots of money.

There had to be several million Won in her hands.

Sakura discovers a tiny piece of paper tucked in between the currency, and she finds a short but neatly written note on it.

“Thanks again for the coffee. You said it was on the house, but you lost your job because of me so please take this as payment. It was delicious.”

Sakura laughed at the absurdity of it all. Within her hands was probably what she would have earned working in that bakery for three months, and here Kaeun was passing it off as the price of coffee. What ridiculousness. The Reaper had a sense of humour.

“I don’t think you’re that bad of a person, Kaeun-ssi.” 

___________________________________

Hello!

So this update came a lot faster than I intended it to, but mostly because hey! Merry Christmas to all! This update is a gift, although don’t expect the next chapter to come this soon. It will take a week, at the soonest.

So I hope this chapter clears up a little bit more of who Kaeun is, and it probably explains the title of the fic as well. Sakura is a poor unemployed git, whereas Kaeun is an Enforcer that doesn’t do nice things (but occasionally does nice things when Sakura is concerned). That’s the dynamic we’re working with.

Why does Kaeun hold such fondness for Sakura? How will the story unfold from here? Will Sakura’s curiosity get her in trouble again?

Are y’all enjoying the fic so far? It’s pretty slow, but things will pick up reallll soon. I promise!

This chapter was kinda a required one, to set a lot of things up.

Please comment, because feedback is greatly appreciated and is very helpful, and maybe even upvote the fic if you’re enjoying it!

Thank you for reading!